In the medical arts today, there are an increasingly large number of manual instruments available for use by surgeons and other medical personnel. Many of these instruments are named according to broad classifications, such as scissors, clamps, retractors, etc., with a specific term attached thereto to uniquely name the particular instrument within that class. Often, these instruments are each designed and adapted to perform specific functions within specific fields of use. Since the identifying name is usually not marked on the instrument, medical personnel need to remember the appearance, name and use of each instrument. During the performance of surgical operations and procedures, it is crucial that the correct instrument be easily, accurately and quickly identified.
It is also necessary at times to identify which instruments are the property of a specific doctor or surgery team. Use of SURG-I-BAND.RTM. marking tape to code surgical instruments to identify them with a particular owner may be done on particular instruments in addition to coding the instruments to identify their size or particular function.
The assignee of the present invention, Scanlan International, Inc., manufactures a pressure-sensitive adhesive tape, known by the proprietary name SURG-I-BAND.RTM., which is available in a variety of colors and widths for application to surgical and medical instruments for use in marking them for easier identification. Since these instruments are generally re-usable, they must be cleaned and sterilized after each use, typically by washing and/or soaking in an anti-bacterial solution, often following by a heat sterilization treatment, such as autoclaving. The tape is thus manufactured of a base material and a suitable adhesive that will resist such repeated treatments.
The SURG-I-BAND.RTM. tape deteriorates over time from these treatments and, when it becomes necessary to remove the tape, it is often difficult to do so. One of the changes that is known to occur in the tape over time with repeated sterilization is that the bond between overlapping tape areas becomes increasingly strong, making the removal of the tape by peeling open the bond extremely difficult. In contrast to the tape to tape bond, the bond of the tape to the tool is minimal over time so that the tape may be readily removed from the tool if it is cut across its width.
It is thus an object of this invention to provide a simple cutting tool to cut across the entire width of an encircling identifying tape band to free an edge thereof and thus facilitate easy and complete removal of the identifying tape band.